Latest on MJJC

Former MJ Bodyguard Kerry Anderson To Release A New Book June 13th

reuben12 said:
I'll definitely read but with a big filter. It is fun in a reality sort of way but cannot be taken as depicting who Michael really was. The other three bodyguards book - even though the authors seem to think they were very close to Michael, it did not look like they had any real insight to MJ. He seemed to have been totally professional with his employees.
Click to expand...

The previous bodyguards' book was a financial failure and I hope the same for this bodyguard.

These bodyguards frequently interchange the word friend for employer/employee at will however, it does not negate the fact that they went against the code of their profession with their (mostly illogical) tales. Michael - worse, his children and family members - did nothing to deserve this type of betrayal which is serving only as entertainment for a small group.

The concept of portraying Michael in a so-called positive light by his ex-employees through books for purchase is nothing more that a selfish trick by these authors for possible financial gain.
 
Last edited:
Like it or not books about Michael will always be written just like about any other historical figure. It's better to have books by people who at least actually knew Michael and portray him in a decent way than be left with something written by Dimond or Helprin.
 
Virgina Woolf, I understand you response and it is often repeated however; books about Michael's art tends to be forgotten and those are positive as well.

If one is looking for details of Michael's personal life now that he has passed, one simply cannot have it. Despite that, some will take the third, fourth, fifth, etc. account from an employee who has no true insight into what that employee saw. In this instance, these employees actually go against the code of their profession to bring tales that conveniently cannot be verified.
 
Spyce said:
This has been discussed a lot- how people feel it's a betrayal to Michael to write a book about him. And that is totally fine to feel that way, everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

I am simply trying to see this from both sides- I'm usually pretty good at that, but here I seem to be having difficulty. It is understandable to call somebody a "sell out" or even just saying they're disrespectful if they discuss things they should not, such as sharing details about his love life, and other topics that Michael wanted and tried so hard to keep private. But has anybody read Kerry's book yet? (That is a rhetorical question, as the book hasn't come out yet.) How does anybody know that he's "selling out" or disrespecting Michael's memory? Just because a person passes, doesn't mean you should stop talking about them; and just because you do talk about them or share your memories, that doesn't mean you're being disrespectful. Perhaps he's only sharing little stories. From what he posts on his Facebook page, it doesn't seem he's in any way disrespecting Michael by sharing things he shouldn't. And from what I understand, this book is a memoir. So it's not just all about Michael. I could be wrong, I have not read the book either, but I am just going on what information is currently available out there.

Anyhow, not trying to argue with anybody; just trying to see how such a label can be applied to somebody when nobody's even read the book yet.
Click to expand...

It is precisely this relentless appetite for everything MJ that is causing great harm to MJ. for some reason fans think they are entitled to MJ private life. really? please give the man a break. he's suffered already too much. we don't see Madonna bodyguards rushing to write books about her. we certainly don't see Georges Bush jr bodyguards rushing to write books about him. same with Oprah. and i doubt anyone will be rushing to write books about Obama or the current Pope.

MJ is entitled to as much privacy as these public figures. if Kerry wants to share stories as you imply, he can always contact MJ children and share such stories.

Why did Kerry not release the book when MJ was alive? Who gave him the permission to share such stories about MJ? Does he have a written consent from MJ before his passing?
 
passy001 said:
It is precisely this relentless appetite for everything MJ that is causing great harm to MJ. for some reason fans think they are entitled to MJ private life. really? please give the man a break. he's suffered already too much. we don't see Madonna bodyguards rushing to write books about her. we certainly don't see Georges Bush jr bodyguards rushing to write books about him. same with Oprah. and i doubt anyone will be rushing to write books about Obama or the current Pope.

MJ is entitled to as much privacy as these public figures. if Kerry wants to share stories as you imply, he can always contact MJ children and share such stories.

Why did Kerry not release the book when MJ was alive? Who gave him the permission to share such stories about MJ? Does he have a written consent from MJ before his passing?
Click to expand...

Of course he wouldn't have released it when Michael was alive. Now after he isn't anymore things are different. Same would be with those other public figures you mentioned. As a fan I don't think that I'm entitled to MJ's private life but I'm still interested hearing about it. I'm have nothing against poitive books about Michael. I like to read stories about Michael's life and what he did.
 
Last edited:
Spyce said:
How does anybody know that he's "selling out" or disrespecting Michael's memory? Just because a person passes, doesn't mean you should stop talking about them; and just because you do talk about them or share your memories, that doesn't mean you're being disrespectful.

And from what I understand, this book is a memoir. So it's not just all about Michael. I could be wrong, I have not read the book either, but I am just going on what information is currently available out there.
Click to expand...

No argument; this is a response to your post.

Kerry goes against the oath of his profession to bring these tales and that is not a trustworthy act.

If one commits an act that is not trustworthy to bring such tales, why should the tales or the one who commits such an act be considered trustworthy?

Kerry was Michael's bodyguard. He knew Michael in a professional capacity. He was not Michael's personal friend regardless of any personal conversation Michael mistakenly had with him because he did not have the foresight to know the conversation could appear in print after his passing.

If the pending book was only about Kerry's life, it would not be of value to MJ fans and/or forums. Kerry knows that.
 
Spyce, thank you for not taking offense to the reply and/or making a disagreement on an issue personal.

Please know that I understand why others are interested in such tales. I feel it is important to stress however that it is these authors’ version of Michael’s truth which should not be confused with Michael’s actual truth.
 
Galactus123 said:
Of course he wouldn't have released it when Michael was alive. Now after he isn't anymore things are different. Same would be with those other public figures you mentioned. As a fan I don't think that I'm entitled to MJ's private life but I'm still interested hearing about it. I'm have nothing against poitive books about Michael. I like to read stories about Michael's life and what he did.
Click to expand...

How different are things now? Kerry's still bound by the same code of ethics of his profession. that has not changed. That's like saying when you pass someday, your medical doctor automatically gets a free pass to spill all his private moments with you. This is an horrendous violation of trust and privacy.

Fans need to start placing MJ interests above theirs. obsessing about MJ stories is not only selfish but actually very damaging to MJ. it opens a lot of opportunities for all kinds of people to shamelessly exploit him just like Kerry. not everything about MJ is meant for public consumption and gossip. and it shouldn't.
 
Books were written about MJ when he was alive without MJ's permission and fans still read them. Same thing is happening now. I'm not sure why there is this constant (and the exact same) debate every time a book comes out lol. There's really - to me - nothing different going on than what has always been happening since MJ got famous. It actually happens to a great number of people who are famous. There's no reason to condemn or point fingers at people who choose (or choose not to) read the book.
 
Last edited:
J5master, it is not the same debate actually.

When Michael was alive, he endorsed certain books about himself and contributed to a book or two if I am remembering correctly. Since his passing, the online fan community has decided to endorse or pan certain books written about him for various reasons which have lead to the debates I believe you are referring to. Unfortunately, it seems the reason some books have been supported has more to do with who the author(s) is instead of how factual the book is.

With the bodyguards, the debate is unique because they went against the code of their profession to deliver such tales and some have endorsed that betrayal. What I noticed particularly in these threads is some will rationalize their tales to fit an image of Michael even when reality may point elsewhere.

A rather simple example: The previous bodyguards suggested Michael first heard the song “My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown sometime during these bodyguards employment which would be sometime after 2005. R/B fans would know that Brown was considered to be the heir apparent to Michael’s throne as they say during the Bad Era. Brown also expressed quite a bit of romantic interest in Michael’s sister, Janet at the time. It is illogical that sometime after 2005 would be the first time Michael heard the song and enjoyed it. It is more logical that he heard it decades before. Of course that is the bodyguards’ version of Michael’s truth however; some are inclined to believe it without question while others are not.
 
I see both sides of the debate and I'm kind of torn myself and yes, it is ethically questionable for a former employee to publish a book etc. etc., but we have to get real: Michael was a world famous celebrity. It is inevitable that there will be books written about him whether we like it or not. Yes, in an ideal world books about celebrities and artists would be limited to their work. However this is not an ideal world. I wish the world had respected Michael's wish to protect his privacy, but it does not. People like to know about celebrities private life and personality and if they do not get any info then they tend to fill in the gaps in their knowledge with filth. (It seems to be human nature to think if someone protects his privacy it's because there are dark secrets that need to be hidden.) So if not for these kind of books then what kind of books there would be out there about "Michael Jackson the person" for those who are interested in that aspect? What kind of books then would dominate the market? What kind of books would exclusively shape MJ's public image on the book market? The ones written by Diane Dimond and Bob Jones and Taraborelli? If there are no voices and portrayals of MJ opposing the picture represented in such books and the tabloids people can easily believe that is because there is no other way to portray him, because that was "the real MJ". It's a bit like all the crazy stories and negative assumptions about MJ as a father before his death and then when people saw his children that image went through a massive reevaluation because people saw his children and saw how well he raised them. Yes, we know why MJ hid that aspect of his life and his children and it was right for him to do that. But there are no easy answers for questions like this IMO and both sides have their points. Sometimes questions of ethics are not easy to solve.

For example, you have a friend who shared a private secret with you and told you never to tell anyone. Then the person dies and there is a situation where he is smeared and his memory is trashed massively and the information you have would refute that smear campaign. So what do you do? It is certainly a dilemma and there is no easy answer to what would be the ethical behaviour. And that is why books about ethics are full of such problems and I know that to many of those dilemmas there is just no good answer. Everyone will have their own answer, what seems right to them, but it does not necessarily mean that is the good answer or even that there is one good answer.
 
J5master;4068911 said:
Books were written about MJ when he was alive without MJ's permission and fans still read them. Same thing is happening now. I'm not sure why there is this constant (and the exact same) debate every time a book comes out lol. There's really - to me - nothing different going on than what has always been happening since MJ got famous.
Click to expand...

The difference is that the vast majority of books written about MJ before he died were all tabloid garbage that a lot of the times MJ implored people not to read. I can only think of about 3 books that were written to portray MJ in a positive light pre June 2009 (with the exception of Moonwalk and Dancing the Dream which is what MJ himself told people to read if they wanted to know about his personal life) and 2 of them were allegation books trying to convince people that the poor guy was innocent. Grant is the only one I can think of that actually ever really wrote a "personal" positive book about MJ and he ended up becoming friends with the man himself. I mean, his own sister (LaToya) despite whatever excuses she came up with wrote a smear book for goodness sake. The poor guy couldn't catch a break when he was around to defend himself, and now that he's dead, all of a sudden these people who worked with him (as in employees, not friends) and friends of his have all these books to write. You didn't see Elizabeth Taylor writing a book, and she was friends with the guy for decades. She was always a fierce allie of his, but she didn't need a tell all book to make that point known. Tyugger nailed it down when they said this:

Tygger;4068900 said:
Please know that I understand why others are interested in such tales. I feel it is important to stress however that it is the authors’ version of Michael’s truth which should not be confused with Michael’s actual truth.
Click to expand...

People want to know about Mike's personal life and they feel entitled to it, but, this isn't HIS account of HIS life, it's someone else's one sided opinion of the way they saw his life. No one can really tell his story except for the man who actually lived it, and he can't, and we as fans should accept that.
 
Last edited:
If Michael had survived and didn't encounter Conrad ****ING ******, sorry... then i would have loved if he would've done a look back on his life.. you know, where he speaks passionately about his craft, perfectionism and everything he created/gifted to this world...
 
That would have been a real treasure. His speaking of his motivations, etc.. as you mentioned above, in his own way without having to dodge silly questions by interviewers who cared nothing about his work. Not all but most.
 
I truly do not understand this repetitive concept that if these particular books are not released there will somehow be an imbalance of negative books regarding Michael’s personal and/or professional life.

There have been negative articles, books, and commentary regarding Michael’ personal and private life while he was living and of course that would continue now that he has passed. Michael lived through that because he was the positive force in his own personal and professional life and that positivity continues through his memory/spirit. To be fixated only on the negative articles, books, and commentary that surrounded Michael’s personal and professional life and his passing is to ignore the much larger and blessed part of the man’s life. It also ignores the many positive articles, books, and commentary published during Michael's life and after.

Simply put: no negative article, book, or commentary has dampened the positive force of Michael while he was alive and it will not dampen the positive force of Michael now that he has passed. In the larger view, it does not matter. The negativity is actually rather small and is not powerful enough to negate all of those who revere the man.

TinnyandOdd, thanks. Michael did endorse some books about himself that he did not write and had input in some books that he did not write while he was alive. Latoya did NOT write a negative book about her brother. Her first book came out before the allegations and was the book Oprah referred to when she famously interviewed Michael. That is another falsehood that has spread in the online community for particular reasons. I would encourage reading Latoya’s book as some of the situations she and Michael were in were quite hilarious at times.

Zakk, agreed and I believe he made valuable and insightful statements in Boteach’s two books where he interviews Michael. While I do not agree with Boteach's views on Michael, I did enjoy reading Michael's own words and views on various subjects.
 
Last edited:
So where are we going to draw the line about what is an appropriate book and what isn't? Yes, LaToya's book is not negative about MJ, but it is negative about much of the rest of the family, including Katherine (whom she portrays as strongly anti-semitic among others), Joseph and some of the siblings. But regardless of its negative or positive content it IS about the family's and Michael's PRIVATE life. So how are we are going to say "boo bodyguards but let's endorse LaToya's book"?
 
Respect77, I am surprised by your concern about the portrayal of the Jackson family by Latoya.

The issues her family had with her first book, published while her full immediate family was living, were stated publicly by them (particularly her comments about her parents) AND the fact that they continued to love and care about her was publicly stated by them as well. If a fan prefers to cling to anything negative for whatever reasons, so be it. As this is a discussion about Michael, the comments about him and were not negative. In fact, the situations she and her brother found themselves in oftentimes were hilarious.

I read both of Latoya's books and I read the bodyguards' book. I continue to encourage others to read Latoya's first book in particular instead of accepting some in the online community’s rejection of that book and most anything regarding Latoya and/or family members for particular reasons.

Again: the bodyguards went against the code of their profession similar to a doctor going against a code of confidentiality. That is a fact that continually goes overlooked in some fans’ zeal to read their tales regardless of if the tales are remotely factual or not. Latoya did not do such. She may be relegated to family and friends who spoke for and/or against Michael. While there is much footage of Latoya speaking against Michael during a particular time period, there is much more footage of Latoya supporting her brother publicly throughout his professional life and after his passing. She is not an ex-employee and she is most certainly not an ex-employee bound to confidentiality. She also did not tailor her book to feed some fans’ need for private information about her brother the way these particular bodyguards have.
 
Spyce said:
I have a question that's been lingering on my mind for quite some time now. With the previous book- Remember The Time- while it get some "hate" from people, it seems the fan community in general was pretty accepting of the book. But with Kerry, it feels like the total opposite; it seems like there's a few who are interested, but most just feel negatively towards it.

Why did the first book have more support than this one seems to be getting?
Click to expand...

I don't think that's the case. As I see it it's the same people criticizing this book who also criticized the other BG's book.
 
Spyce said:
I guess it may just be my own personal perspective. I do see that pattern, but it just feels like, overall, though, the response to this book seems more negative. It seemed like people really looked forward to the previous book while this one just seems to be getting a fairly strong adverse reaction.

Eh, I was just curious, that's all.
Click to expand...

To be honest, and this is just my opinion, but it also might have something to do with the timing between when the bodyguard book was released and this new one? The hype was still strong for Jackson details when the bodyguard book was released, and it seems over time the hype for that kind of thing has died down and we're sort of left with more life long fans who have been around for years and didn't just jump on the Jackson Bandwagon with a lot of other people at the time of his death. That's just what I think though, and I don't mean any disrespect by it. I just think for a lot more fans who have been around since the beginning, we feel more of a connection to MJ and his constant plea for people to respect his privacy, and since we also knew how much he loved his fans, we feel like it's our responsibility to stand up for him if not more so now that he's not here to defend himself, you know?
 
Spyce said:
Why did the first book have more support than this one seems to be getting?
Click to expand...

The first book received support from a minority in the online community. Because they were rather vocal with their support, it has been confused as a majority view.

The financial failure of that book speaks louder than those voices.

The majority of the fan community was not supportive of the first book. The fan community is being confused with the online fan community which is much smaller subgroup of the larger, global fan community.
 
Tygger;4069003 said:
I truly do not understand this repetitive concept that if these particular books are not released there will somehow be an imbalance of negative books regarding Michael’s personal and/or professional life.

There have been negative articles, books, and commentary regarding Michael’ personal and private life while he was living and of course that would continue now that he has passed. Michael lived through that because he was the positive force in his own personal and professional life and that positivity continues through his memory/spirit. To be fixated only on the negative articles, books, and commentary that surrounded Michael’s personal and professional life and his passing is to ignore the much larger and blessed part of the man’s life. It also ignores the many positive articles, books, and commentary published during Michael's life and after.

Simply put: no negative article, book, or commentary has dampened the positive force of Michael while he was alive and it will not dampen the positive force of Michael now that he has passed. In the larger view, it does not matter. The negativity is actually rather small and is not powerful enough to negate all of those who revere the man.

TinnyandOdd, thanks. Michael did endorse some books about himself that he did not write and had input in some books that he did not write while he was alive. Latoya did NOT write a negative book about her brother. Her first book came out before the allegations and was the book Oprah referred to when she famously interviewed Michael. That is another falsehood that has spread in the online community for particular reasons. I would encourage reading Latoya’s book as some of the situations she and Michael were in were quite hilarious at times.

Zakk, agreed and I believe he made valuable and insightful statements in Boteach’s two books where he interviews Michael. While I do not agree with Boteach's views on Michael, I did enjoy reading Michael's own words and views on various subjects.
Click to expand...
just wanted to bold the aspects of this post that says it all so very well, as to how I feel, and I just am so glad someone has stated MJ's case so plainly.

As for the Boteach project, my personal jury is stilll out on the whole thing. Something feels somehow "off" about it, somewhat somehow 'deliberate' for want of a better word, on MJ's part to me, not sure what that means as the clarity hasn't quite come to me yet. I don't feel he does things so openly, randomly, without some measure of deliberate forethought. Especially if there is a running tape involved. jmho

Thanks again tygger for so many well said and very important and key points about how much MJ deserves respect, privacy and consideration from all who knew him personally and/or have ever cared about him as a person.
 
Re: Book: Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days / Review @pg8

Any updates oh Kerry Anderson?
 
Compelled to testify in the murder trial of Mr. Conrad Murray and deposed in the civil litigation between the Jackson estate andAEG Live, the promoters for Mr. Jackson's never-perforned comeback show, This is it, we answered the questions put to us, truthfully an to the best of our knowledge, but provided no more information beyond what was legally required of us.


This quote ist from the book, but they didn`t testify on the Conrad Murray trial. There is another reference in the book where they are again saying Bill Whhitfield did testify in the trial. I am a litle confused about this obvioulsy wrong statements.
 
Mr Anderson has said that this book is currently on the 'back burner'* and he does not have a new date for its release.

(From interview on 13 June on King Jordan Radio). (* For family reasons)
 
He said in an interview on King Jordan I believe that he had some personal issues come up that he needed to take care of so his book is on the back burner for the time being.
 
June 13th ha?? interesting date choice
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top